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Ailing union chief ready to take on Selig, MLB

Paul White, USA TODAY Sports
5:20 p.m. EDT July 16, 2013

Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Michael Weiner, shown at Monday's All-Star Game workout day at Citi Field in New York, expects a showdown with MLB in the Biogenesis scandal.(Photo: Scott Boeck, USA TODAY Sports)

Story Highlights

Bud Selig said drug suspensions in the Biogenesis case will occur whether or not they affect season

Union chief Michael Weiner said appeals of case could be heard as soon as September

The length of suspensions, he said, aren't dictated by 50- or 100-game guidelines

NEW YORK — Michael Weiner entered the room in a wheelchair, part of his ongoing battle with brain cancer, but it's clear the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association hasn't lost any of his fight.

That also goes for a continuing showdown with Major League Baseball over the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drug scandal.

"It's been a struggle," Weiner said, referring to the developments surrounding the Biogenesis investigation.

Weiner has also struggled with his health, which has been declining since November. He is restricted to a wheel chair.

While Weiner said he expects MLB to complete its investigation within a month, he speculated that negotiations, appeals and arbitration could last past season's end. The key, he said, will be more of the ongoing meetings between the union and MLB about the findings.

"Sometimes they've been forthcoming, sometimes we wish they'd be more forthcoming," Weiner said of MLB. "In terms of what they've learned, we have had to fight them every step of the way. It's been a struggle. Even if we get an agreement there will probably more struggle along the way."

Weiner was more forthcoming than Commissioner Bud Selig, who met earlier with the same group. Weiner noted that players involved in Biogenesis do not necessarily have their disciplined tied to the joint drug agreement's guidelines; it's possible they could get 'five or 500 games" and not the 50- or 100-game, or lifetime bans typically associated with the drug program.

Earlier, Selig said he had little information to supply about where MLB stands in its probe into links between players and the Miami clinic suspected of supplying performance enhancing drugs.

(Photo: Tim Fuller, USA TODAY Sports)

Selig said timing is not an issue in baseball's expected announcement of any suspensions.

"The only thing I can say about the investigation is that it's thorough, it's comprehensive and it's aggressive" Selig said. "When they're done with the investigation, that will be the time no matter what time of the season it is. We have to do what we have to do."

So does the union.

While Weiner reiterated that a significant numbers of players have expressed their desire for harsh punishment for offenders, he also emphasized the need for due process and following the parameters of the collective bargaining agreement, which includes the drug program.

"I understand Bud was on Letterman last night and all the suspensions have been meted out," Weiner joked.

More seriously, Weiner said, "It would not be wrong to say we've been dealing with the commissioner's office daily.

"When all the interviews are done, we will meet with the commissioner's office and try to work this out. That's going to include whether names are going to be announced."

But the issue of identifying players could be a contentious one, as could the length of suspensions.

Weiner said violations stemming from the Biogenesis investigation aren't necessarily bound by all stipulations of the basic agreement because they would not stem from positive tests. Still, he said, "I think the commissioner's office will agree with us that is a first-time violation."

That would mean players would not be named until the appeals process is finished and that the concept that players could be charged with two violations — use of the banned drugs and lying about it — would not apply. That's an assessment MLB may not agree with.

"They have to prove all those cases," Weiner said.

Any cases that are contested would have to be scheduled in front of the one arbitrator, Fredric Horowitz.

By agreement, either side can dismiss the arbitrator, as MLB did with Shyam Das, who ruled favorably for Ryan Braun in his appeal of a positive drug test.

Selig addressed the problem of information leaks, which have included names of players possibly under investigation.

"Nobody is more unhappy about the leaks than me," he said. "I know this. The leaks do not come from us. There's nothing I can do about it because it's not coming from us."

As for Weiner's personal fight, he said a succession plan is in place for when he is no longer able to fill his role as the MLBPA's executive director. He saw the union through successful extensions of the collective bargaining agreement with MLB.

"I get up in the morning and I feel I'm going to live each day as it comes," he said. "I don't take any day for granted. I don't take the next morning for granted.. I look for beauty, meaning and joy. If I find beauty, meaning and joy, that's a good day."

Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz, who hit six home runs during the 2011 AL Championship Series, has never failed an MLB-administered drug test. He received a 50-game suspension.
Gary A. Vasquez, USA TODAY Sports